Allentown Art Museum lands exhibit of Italian masters

April 09, 2014|By John J. Moser, Of The Morning Call

A traveling exhibit of paintings by some of the greatest names in European art, some of which have never been displayed outside the Scottish museums that house them, will stop at Allentown Art Museum for three months this summer, it was announced Wednesday.

"Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums" will be at the museum June 8 through Sept. 7.

It includes 40 works by Italian Renaissance and Baroque masters such as Giovanni Bellini, Sandro Botticelli, Francesco Guardi, Salvator Rosa and Titian, as well as lesser-known masters.

" 'Of Heaven and Earth' brings to the museum some of the most important Italian paintings that have ever been on view," museum President David Mickenberg said. He called it "an exceptional array of paintings."

Allentown is among just four stops slated for the exhibit in the next year. It just finished a stop at the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and after Allentown will be at Milwaukee Art Museum from Oct. 1 to Jan. 4, 2015, and Santa Barbara Museum of Art from Feb. 6, 2015, to May 3, 2015.

The exhibit had never previously traveled.

Mickenberg said Allentown Art museum has been in contact with The American Federation of Arts since he became its president in November, "as we spread our wings a bit to see who was doing what throughout America."

He said "Of Heaven and Earth" was fully booked as of a few months ago, but when an opening occurred, the federation "was looking for another institution that could handle an exhibition of this magnitude and would have an audience, and they called us. " He said arranging the visit has taken months.

The paintings examine the thematic and stylistic developments in Italian art from the religious paintings of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance to the secular neoclassical and genre paintings of the 19th century.

Organized into five chronological sections, the exhibit includes paintings originating from the principal artistic centers of Italy—Rome, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Siena, Naples and Venice.

The exhibition will highlight "significant new research and discoveries relating to attribution, dates, provenance, infrared analysis and the reconstruction of fragmented altarpieces," according to a release from arts federation, which with Glasgow Museums organized the exhibit.

Mickenberg said the exhibit "significantly increases the quality of our summer exhibition schedule and allows us to think anew about the kinds of opportunities we present to the community and ways we can engage the visitor."

He said the museum intends to build programming around the exhibit -- including a lecture series, tours and other "activities of activities in the museum that will engage families," such as Italian-themed evenings. Some will be specifically aimed at young people and families, he said.

In addition, the museum hopes to collaborate with Lehigh Valley institutions and community groups – perhaps with Allentown Symphony when it offers Italian classical music this summer or Allentown Civic Theater to present Italian films. Details on the activities will be announced soon, Mickenberg said.

In a move to open the exhibit to a more inclusive audience, wall labels for it will be worded in English and Spanish "to ensure that the stories behind these masterworks are accessible to all," the museum said in a release.

Mickenberg said the exhibit fits well into his vision for the museum.

"I think that any time you're confronted with an exhibit of this quality and importance, it's incumbent on the museum to bring it in," he said. He said it's a natural follow to the museum's 50th anniversary of its Samuel Kress collection of Baroque art last year.

"It enables the museum to do some extraordinary programming and engage audiences, expand audiences and provide excitement for audiences. This is the kind and quality and diversity that we should be providing on an ongoing basis."